oil in Biological News

Two dietary oils, two sets of benefits for older women with diabetes

... Ohio A study comparing how two common dietary oil supplements affect body composition suggests that ... study, 16 weeks of supplementation with safflower oil reduced fat in the trunk area, lowered blood ... All of the women in the study took one oil for 16 weeks, followed by the ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly Presspac -- June 17, 2009

... microscopic algae could yield massive amounts of oil Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ... solution to the global energy crisis "milking" oil from the tiny, single-cell algae known as ... geologists believe that much of the world's crude oil originated in diatoms, which produce an oily ...

University of Leicester geologists demonstrate extent of ancient ice age

... carbon that eventually lead to the formation of oil including the 'hot shales' of north Africa and Arabia which constitute the world's most productive oil source rock. This ice age has been named 'the ... which constitute the world's most productive oil source rock. In fact, the burial of organic ...

Mars mission could ease Earth's energy supply crisis

... to the global economy. Conventional crude oil is a staple energy resource and accounts for over ... world's energy consumption. As the demand for oil exceeds supply, focus has now turned to trying to ... to match the characteristics of more conventional oil deposits and make them commercially viable. The ...

UCSB scientists document fate of huge oil slicks from seeps at coal oil point

... (Santa Barbara, Calif.) Twenty years ago, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was exiting Alaska's Prince ... disasters: 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the pristine Alaskan waters, ... Now, imagine 8 to 80 times the amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez accident. ...

American Chemical Society's weekly PressPac -- April 29, 2009

... Society , describes the first "self-propelled" oil droplets (used as a model for research on ... tried for years to find a method for producing oil droplets that undergo controlled movement from ... The new study describes development of oil droplets equipped with chemical "engines" highly ...

NASA study says climate adds fuel to Asian wildfire emissions

... in 1997, when fires set to clear land for palm oil and rice plantations burned out of control. The ... contribute to the growing fire emissions. Palm oil is increasingly grown for use as a cooking oil and biofuel, while also replacing trans fats in ...

Smoke from cigarettes, cooking oil, wood, shift male cardiovascular system into overdrive

... Secondhand tobacco smoke and smoke from cooking oil and wood smoke affected cardiovascular function ... with different types of smoke (tobacco, cooking oil and wood smoke) men respond to environmental ... These pollutants, including tobacco and cooking oil smoke, contain fine particles that evoke ...

Smoke from cigarettes, cooking oil, wood, shift male cardiovascular system into overdrive

... Secondhand tobacco smoke and smoke from cooking oil and wood smoke affected cardiovascular function ... with different types of smoke (tobacco, cooking oil and wood smoke) men respond to environmental ... These pollutants, including tobacco and cooking oil smoke, contain fine particles that evoke ...

Biofuels could hasten climate change

... study appears in Conservation Biology . The oil palm, increasingly used as a source for biofuel, ... traded oilseed crop. Global production of palm oil has increased exponentially over the past 40 ... square kilometers. Conversion of forest to oil palm also results in significant impoverishment ...

Nanofarming technology harvest biofuel oils without harming algae

... biofuels from algae is that when you extract the oil from the algae, it kills the organisms, ... "nanofarming" technology that safely harvests oil from the algae so the pond-based "crop" can keep ... sponge-like mesoporous nanoparticles to extract oil from the algae. The process doesn't harm the ...

The Prestige oil spill caused changes in the cell structure of mussels

... release is available in Spanish . The oil spill from the Prestige petroleum oil tanker in 2002 caused serious damage to the ... of the biological effects of the Prestige oil spill, based on the biomarker approach: mussel ...

Smithsonian scientist warns that palm oil development may threaten Amazon

... oil palm cultivation is a significant driver of ... journal Tropical Conservation Science , that oil palm expansion in the Brazilian Amazon is likely ... up to 30 percent of this reserve to consist of oil palm. Expansion may be driven by economics. As ...

K-State researchers work with university in Ghana to create biofuels from native tree seeds

... Studies Center, K-State biologists analyzed the oil content of four common tree species in Ghana. ... -- also known as neem -- have seeds with high oil content. They now are finalizing the analysis of ... them into biodiesel. The plant would include an oil extraction device and biodiesel reactor, Yuan ...

Arctic governments and industry still unprepared for oil spills 20 years after Exxon Valdez

... Two decades after the Exxon Valdez oil spill devastated a vast stretch of the Alaskan ... would be unable to effectively manage a large oil spill, according to a new report by World ... renewed its call for a time-out on new offshore oil development in the Arctic until technologies ...

Cleaning up oil spills can kill more fish than spills themselves, say Queen's biologists

... detergents used to clean up spills of diesel oil actually increase its toxicity to fish, making it ... spills in the long term because the dispersed oil is diluted and degraded," says Biology professor ... trout by 100-fold." The detergents are oil dispersants that decrease the surface tension ...

Fowl soil additive breaks down crude oil

... chicken manure can be used to biodegrade crude oil in contaminated soil. Writing in the ... in chicken manure break down 50% more crude oil than soil lacking the guano. Bello Yakubu, ... point out that contamination of soil by crude oil occurs around the world because of equipment ...

Scientists find black gold amidst overlooked data

... About half of the oil in the ocean bubbles up naturally from the ... (UMass), found that they could detect oil seeping naturally from the seafloor of the Gulf ... and cost-effective means to survey the ocean for oil seeps, to ...

Marine scientists to assess environment before offshore drilling begins in US arctic waters

... Chukchi Sea before the area opens for offshore oil drilling. The contract from the MMS (U.S. ... in leases in the Chukchi Sea to a variety of oil companies, including Shell and ConocoPhillips. It ... benthic flora, fauna and chemistry are related to oil and gas activities or climate change and natural ...

Biofuels boom could fuel rainforest destruction, Stanford researcher warns

... feed and fuel from crops such sugarcane, soy and oil palm by increasing their production, Gibbs said. ... 15 percent per year since 1990, and Indonesia's oil palm production tripled during the 1990's and ... prized as current-generation biofuels, such as oil palm and sugarcane, also are those crops most ...

Biofuels can provide viable, sustainable solution to reducing petroleum dependence

... biofuels are important to mitigate the risk of oil market volatility. The domestic investment for ... biofuels could compete without incentives with oil priced at $90 per barrel, assuming a reduction in ... levels of petroleum fuels from on-shore oil production and refining. The industrial ...

Trailblazing rural community shows green heating oil a viable option

... UK and Ireland, the properties depend on heating oil for warmth and hot water, and the aim of the UEA ... that environmentally-friendly renewable heating oil is a viable option. The renewable fuel being ... biodiesel manufactured from used vegetable oil and tallow by Argent Energy Ltd of Scotland. The ...

Plant soybean early to increase yield

... nodes were counted by hand just before harvest. oil and protein concentrations were determined by ... late-planted (late-May and early-June) soybean. oil concentration was higher at early plantings and ... during R6 soybean growth stage (full seed) oil concentration increased and protein concentration ...

Biofuels ignite food crisis debate

... the context of global shortages of fossil energy oil and natural gas in particular governments ... ethanol and biodiesel production to make the US oil independent. Their paper then looks at the ... for rapeseed. Even the most promising palm oil production results in a minus 8 percent net ...

Stanford launches $100 million initiative to tackle energy issues

... president and/or CEO positions at Hamilton oil Co.; Tejas Gas Corporation, subsequently a Shell oil Co. subsidiary; and ScissorTail Energy and Hermes ... transporters and processors of natural gas, crude oil and refined products. He is convinced that ...

A happy new year for penguins

... pressures by commercial fishing and the oil industry. "The park protects one ... nets, which can entangle birds as they feed. oil pollution from tankers transporting petroleum ... to Buenos Aires, coupled with expanding offshore oil drilling, have also loomed as growing threats in ...

MIT researchers explain mystery of gravity fingers

... applications, including the recovery of oil from reservoirs and the sequestration of carbon ... the larger question of how water displaces oil in underground reservoirs. (Petroleum engineers commonly flush oil reservoirs with water to ...

Oil spray reduces greenhouse gas emissions from pig finishing barns

... are needed to mitigate pollutant gas emissions. oil spray has been used as a mitigation technique to ... and the University of Missouri have investigated oil spray on air pollutant emissions from pig barns ... commercial pig finishing barns and tested three oil spray ...

'World Energy Outlook' to be presented at Rice University Dec. 9

... energy consequences, as well as future global oil and gas supply prospects. Jones will also explore ... in Kuwait, he held discussions with international oil companies and with the minister of petroleum on ... that eventually resulted in the collapse of world oil prices in 1986. In Riyadh, he also reported on ...

Mineral oil contamination in humans: A health problem?

... From a quantitative standpoint, mineral oil is probably the largest contaminant of our body. ... recently around 100,000 tonnes of sunflower oil were contaminated with mineral oil at concentrations often above 1000 mg/kg. Much of ...

Soybean grant gives researchers tools to unravel better bean

... need for a healthy diet. In addition, soybean oil contains trans fats after it's processed. On ... could also grow varieties that produce more oil or more protein. "Genome sequencing and gene ... Parrott said. "It's the No. 1 source of vegetable oil and vegetable protein. In that regard, it's the ...

Jupiter's shrinking red spot

... Red Spot is Shrinking 2) The Physics of oil Spill Cleanups 3) Trapping Greenhouse ... . 2) THE PHYSICS OF oil SPILL CLEANUPS oil spills are a major environmental problem because ...

New filtering technology has environmental, industrial applications

... created a new type of membrane that separates oil from water and, if perfected, might be used for ... longer than conventional filters for separating oil from water and works by attracting water while ... in laboratory research. "We take mixtures of oil dispersed in water and run them through these ...

Montana State researchers receive grant to study algae as a source of biofuel

... a three-year, $900,000 grant to study the oil produced by algae, which could be a renewable ... are interested in are 30 to 50 percent oil by weight. This oil can be harvested and converted into biofuels in ...

Revised theory suggests carbon dioxide levels already in danger zone

... one that would be most practical to eliminate. oil resources already may be about half depleted, ... CO2 level reached would depend on the accuracy of oil and gas reserve estimates and whether the most difficult to extract oil and gas is left in the ground. The authors ...

Cleaning heavily polluted water at a fraction of the cost

... a water treatment system for industrial oil polluted water at a tenth of the cost of other ... flora or fauna. Wastewater from ships, oil refineries and other petrochemical industries is ... petrochemically polluted wastewater at Lithuanian oil company, Nasta. "It works great," says Professor ...

Pregnant women consuming flaxseed oil have high risk of premature birth

... risks of a premature birth quadruple if flaxseed oil is consumed in the last two trimesters of ... peppered mint (12 percent), and flaxseed oil (12 percent). Brard and Moussally correlated ... 2 to 3 percent. But for women consuming flaxseed oil in their last two trimesters that number jumps up ...

University success at national engineering awards

... that could reduce the environmental impact of oil drilling and a scientific technique that can be used to help map out oil deposits, improve the accuracy of carbon dating ... sea water to enable more efficient removal of oil from waste rock produced as a by-product ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac

... air pollution by removing sulfur from crude oil Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research ... a major source of air pollution from crude oil more effectively than conventional refining ... of sulfur components in gasoline and may help oil companies meet tougher emission standards for ...

Rice University establishes National Corrosion Center

... bridges, our pipelines for transporting water, oil and gas, our buildings, our aviation and ... universities. Given Rice's location in the oil capital of the U.S., NCC researchers will focus much of their initial work on the oil and gas industry. A 2001 study by the Federal ...